The United Nations commission investigating the murder of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri is asking for an interview with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

A spokesman for the commission says Monday a request has already been sent to Damascus, seeking permission for investigators to interview President Assad and his foreign minister, Farouq al-Shara.

The U.N. commission also wants to meet with former Syrian Vice President Abdel-Halim Khaddam, who resigned last year and now lives in Paris.

Mr. Khaddam has implicated President Assad in the assassination plot against Mr. Hariri, who was killed in Lebanon last year by a remote-controlled bomb that destroyed his armored limousine. Syria's ruling Baath Party reacted to the former vice president's disclosure by expelling Mr. Khaddam and demanding he be tried in Syria for treason.